So, What about Chivalry?
The background of this bit is a review of Harvey C. Mansfield's book Manliness by Christina Hoff Sommers in The Weekly Standard, 10 April 2006, Volume 011, Issue 28. For a while, you may read the whole thing here, or drop me a line and I'll send you a copy that I've saved.Ms. Sommers is the author of The War on Boys which got some folks' blood-pressure up a while ago. Google the title and you'll find pro and con reviews galore.
She begins her review of Mansfield's book with these words:
One of the least visited memorials in Washington is a waterfront statue commemorating the men who died on the Titanic. Seventy-four percent of the women passengers survived the April 15, 1912, calamity, while 80 percent of the men perished. Why? Because the men followed the principle "women and children first."
The monument, an 18-foot granite male figure with arms outstretched to the side, was erected by "the women of America" in 1931 to show their gratitude. The inscription reads: "To the brave men who perished in the wreck of the Titanic. ... They gave their lives that women and children might be saved."
Today, almost no one remembers those men. Women no longer bring flowers to the statue on April 15 to honor their chivalry. The idea of male gallantry makes many women nervous, suggesting (as it does) that women require special protection. It implies the sexes are objectively different. It tells us that some things are best left to men. Gallantry is a virtue that dare not speak its name.
Since the Pub seems occupied by the manlier sorts of persons, I thought I'd ask what you think of chivalry (Sommers uses the term "gallantry" rather than chivalry, but this is what she's talking about, I'm pretty sure). Is it outdated? Do you think men today seek to be chivalrous? Or do they avoid being chivalrous? Don't men today have a clue as to what chivalry (or gallantry) is?
posted by Fr. Bill | 6:05 PM
5 Comments:
"Women no longer bring flowers to the statue on April 15 to honor their chivalry"
Doesn't this say more about how women have changed rather than men?
(Although most women I know are very appreciative of chivalrous efforts of men)
Maybe our closet women readers can finally comment here. :)
I have not read the article yet, but hope to soon. Until then, here are my initial thoughts:
1. I'm not sure what you mean by outdated. I think that it has largely been abondoned, but that it is still a necessary quality of any and every Christian man. If you are not a chivalrous man, you are not biblical one either.
2. I think that men who seek to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and who appreciate Pauline teaching on gender are men who seek to be chivalrous.
3. Unfortunately, for the most part, even Christian churches have bought into the feminist agenda of egalitarianism and have thus sought to avoid chivalry in order to avoid "sexism." And even many men who believe that chivalry is biblical may at times avoid acting chivalrous in order to avoid being labeled a chauvinist.
4. As for your last question, let me answer in the way that my wife (one of those closet women readers)was going to post last night, but decided not to (which I will post in the next comment window in order to limit the length of this comment).
PS- Her favorite closet woman to read about is Lucy from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Okay, so here's my wife's story:
It was pouring down rain here the other day (like it has been for months now), and Rebekah needed to buy some stamps from the post office. She had Karis in her carseat, and was struggling to get out of the rain and inside, when a man darted in front of her to open the door.
She initially thought that he did this to be a gentleman (silly Bekah), but to her surprise she found that his motivation was to beat her to the line, and in the process he ended up shoving her and the baby back out in the rain, and out of his way. No "Sorry I almost made you drop your baby," no "Excuse me," no nothing.
And they say that chivalry is dead...
Hi, Drewdog,
On the other hand, my wife has a story for which she is now famous -- or at least she keeps getting asked to tell it.
She missed putting some garbage out on trash day. It was stinky and she didn't want to wait until the next pickup. As she had an errand in town, she loaded the smelly bag into the trunk, planning to stop in a local park near our home, where she knew there was a dumpster in place to receive the trash of those who picnic in the park.
So far so good. She gets out of the car, opens the trunk with the key, lifts out the heavy, stinky bag, walks to the open dumpster and heaves everything into the top of it -- both the stinky bag and her car keys! Of course, it's too late by the time she sees the keys descending into the dumpster.
It is a high dumpster -- the top edge is about shoulder height. She looks into the dumpster and, sure enough, there are her keys in the bottom, against the back wall. The dumpster interior is mostly empty, but the smell (!) and the slime (!) are pronounced.
Then along the jogging path comes this athletic middle-aged man, bouncing along in his tennies, shorts, and t-shirt. Barbara faces him and when he comes in earshot she says, "Can you help me?" He stops, a questioning look on his face.
Somewhat flustered, she explains the silly thing she has just done. He, listening politely, peers into the dumpster. And, as soon as she completes her two or three sentence appeal, he grabs the top edge of the dumpster, vaults himself into it, picks up the keys and wipes them on his t-shirt, and hands them to her. She does not have time to complete her thanks before he has vaulted out of the dumpster, and without a word continued jogging down the path.
He never said a word the entire time!
Well then I guess the answer to your last question is yes and no!
Here's to raising up a new generation of chivalrous men.
Cheers
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